The present invention relates to a new and improved replacement shelf for replacing an existing typical five stick gum and roll candy shelf in a prior art vending machine.
Certain prior art vending machines include a plurality of shelves each of which includes a plurality of product guides for displaying, storing, and directing product to be vended to a delivery bin where the product is retrieved by a purchaser. In many of the prior art machines a dedicated shelf is provided for vending typical five stick gum packages and roll candy packages. These dedicated shelves for vending typical five stick gum packages and roll candy packages are not able to accommodate newer style gum and candy packages which are typically sold in flat or slim pack packages which accommodate more product and which have a different cross-sectional configuration than the old typical five stick gum packages. Five stick gum packages and some six stick gum packages generally measure slightly less than three inches by approximately three-quarters of inch by one-half inch. The product guides in the prior art shelf which are designed to accommodate these packages generally have a cross-sectional configuration of approximately three and one eighth inches wide by one inch high.
Newer style flat pack gum packages generally accommodate between 12 and 18 pieces of gum in a flat package. These new style packages cannot be accommodated in the old style five stick gum and roll candy shelf because the new style packages are much larger than the old five stick gum packages. Examples of the new style packaging include Dentyne and Trident sugarless gum 12 pieces blister pack packages manufactured by Cadbury Adams USA, LLC which measure approximately four inches by two and one-half inches by one-quarter inch, Stride, and Trident Extra Care sugarless gum 14 piece packages manufactured by Cadbury Adams USA, LLC which measures approximately three and one-half inches by two and one eighth inches by one-quarter inch, Extra Polar Ice sugarless gum 15 piece package manufactured by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company which measures approximately three inches by two and one-half inches by one-half inch, Orbit sugarfree gum 14 piece packages manufactured by WM. Wrigley Jr. Company which measures approximately three and three-quarter inches by two inches by one-half inch, Cobalt sugarfree gum, Doublemint and Juicy Fruit gum 15 piece packages manufactured by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company which measures approximately two inches by two and one half inch by one-half inch and Trident sugarless gum 18 piece package which measures three and one-quarter inches by one and one-half inches by one-half inch. Newer hard candy package such as Altoids mints 1.76 oz. Packages distributed by Callard & Bowser which measure approximately three and three-quarter inches by two and one-quarter inches by three-quarters inch and Ice Breaker sugarfree mints manufactured by the Hershey Company which are packaged in cylindrical packages approximately three inches in diameter and three-quarter inch high also will not fit in the old style prior art five stick gum and roll candy shelves.
Since the prior art five stick gum and roll candy shelves do not accommodate current flat and cylindrical packaging for gum, candy and other snacks, it is desirable to replace the five stick gum and roll candy shelves with a new shelf which will accommodate the new style “flat pack” gum, candy and snack packages such as those described in the previous paragraph. It is desirable that the new replacement shelf maximize the number of new style products which can be accommodated by maximizing the number of parallel product guides disposed in the replacement shelf. It is also desirable to provide a new product shelf which can easily replace an existing prior art five stick gum and roll candy shelf with minimum or no modification of the prior art vending machine.